[JURIST] The US military has arrested four Iraqi members of an insurgent kidnapping cell [MNF-Iraq news report] in connection with the kidnapping of Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll [CNN profile]. Carroll was working in Iraq when she was kidnapped on January 7 [CS Monitor report] and released on March 30 [Washington Post report] of this year. A US official said the arrests were made one month ago in the Anbar province west of Baghdad. Carroll's kidnappers demanded that the US release all female detainees [JURIST report] in their custody. A number of women detainees were subsequently released [JURIST report], though US military officials insisted that the release was a result of routine procedures and had no links to Carroll's kidnapping.

On the Christian Science Monitor's Jill Carroll update blog Editor Richard Bergenheim said:

Jill Carroll and her Monitor colleagues are very grateful for all of the efforts the US government made to secure Jill's freedom after she was held against her will for 82 days. Like reporters everywhere, we are reassured to hear that several of those believed to have held Jill have been apprehended. The daily threat of kidnapping in Iraq remains acute for all. Everything possible needs to be done to relieve Iraqis and others of this scourge.

AP has more.